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Williamstown Ag Commission Weighs in on Livestock Bylaw Proposal
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
02:28AM / Tuesday, February 17, 2015
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A portion of a new farm brochure developed by the Williamstown Agricultural Commission.
Agricultural Commission Chairwoman Beth Phelps conducts last week's meeting.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Agricultural Commisssion decided last week to develop suggestions to help the Board of Health develop a set of regulations governing livestock keeping.
 
The commission held a public hearing attended by Health Inspector Jeffrey Kennedy at which he explained the rationale for the proposed addition to the town code and heard reaction — mostly criticism — from farmers on the commission and in the audience.
 
"About 10 years ago, the Board of Health looked at what we had for minimal standards," Kennedy said. "We put it away because the larger farms in town, the professional farmers, were self-governing.
 
"Over the years, we have a lot of backyard farmers now. We want to set a standard so the guys who aren't professional know what is required for proper livestock maintenance."
 
But, Kennedy explained, the town cannot have one set of regulations for professional farmers and another for hobbyists, so any code enacted by the Board of Health would apply to all operations.
 
And the introduction of any town regulations troubled some of the farmers in the room.
 
"I think it's a bit of overkill," said Kim Wells, a member of the commission. "Things change all the time. For example, [in the draft code] there's no mention of electrified netting for chickens. Obviously, this table was developed before people started doing that.
 
"If someone is a farmer and this is passed, they're going to constantly be coming to you for waivers and things like that."
 
The operator of Appaloosa Hillside Farm went a step further, saying the codes being proposed could be used to attack existing farms.
 
"This is going to tie our hands," Maury McCarthy Lawson said. "What it's going to do is the same thing that's been done with sportsman clubs in towns — no noise, no this, no that.
 
"As soon as someone has a fat wallet and doesn't want their neighbor's barn there, they'll get a lawyer — which a lot of us can't afford — and make us get rid of our animals.
 
"Someone is going to move into town, and this is what's going to be used against us if someone with money comes along."
 
Lawson, Wells and others in the room focused much of their criticism on a table of spacing and housing guidelines that address how much enclosed area, exercise space and pasture and what types of housing and fencing are recommended for various types of animals.
 
Health Inspector Jeffrey Kennedy said the regulations on livestock was developed from sources like agricultural colleges.
Kennedy said the table was developed from sources like agricultural colleges, but he said the Board of Health welcomes input from local farmers.
 
Kennedy noted that he already had excised parts of the proposed code from his working copy based on his initial conversations with Ag Commission Chairwoman Beth Phelps.
 
Not all of the comments at the Tuesday hearing were entirely negative with regard to the Board of Health's plan.
 
"It seems a lot of the things in here are fairly common sense and a lot of the things you'd want to do if you're making a living by farming," commission member Leslie Reed-Evans said. "Not following these practices would be counter to the quality of your product."
 
Phelps indicated she trusted Kennedy not to use the code to go after farmers, but she shared her colleagues' concern that a new town code could have unintended consequences down the road.
 
"You're one of the good guys," she told Kennedy. "But your successor is going to be the guy who comes along and enforces it."
 
The commission decided to take up the topic again at a future meeting before crafting former recommendations to the Board of Health.
 
A recent Board of Health decision to close down a piggery on Hopper Road was also discussed at last week's Ag Commission meeting.
 
Farmer Jennifer LaValley-Hurley and Peter LaValley and an employee appeared before the commission to ask for its help in convincing the board to amend the timetable for the operation's closure.
 
On Jan. 20, the Board of Health ordered the LaValley-Hurley and her brother, Peter LaValley, to close their piggery and remove all pigs and pig-related equipment from their Hopper Road property by Feb. 28.
 
At the board's Jan. 5 meeting, Kennedy reported on his site visit to the farm.
 
"Photographs taken in April show no clean water access for the pigs," read the minutes of that meeting. "Photographs taken in December show that the pigs have no adequate bedding, no clean water and no dry area to stand. At times the pigs were up to their chest in mud. The only available water was that in which the pigs were wallowing, urinating and defecating."
 
Owners of the pig farm on Hopper Road asked the Ag Commission for help in getting an extension on shutting down its operation, ordered after the health inspector found the pigs in mud with no clean water or bedding.
LaValley-Hurley appeared before the Ag Commission to ask its guidance about getting an extension from the Board of Health for the Feb. 28 deadline. The frozen ground makes it impossible to remove the equipment, and the conditions of the farm's sows make it difficult to move them, she explained.
 
"[The order] doesn't take into account the pregnant sows or the sow who had piglets last week," she said. "Our hope is for you to help us work with the Board of Health to achieve a more realistic outcome."
 
Wells, who serves as the Ag Commission's liaison to the Board of Health, agreed that the timing is a concern.
 
"I'm not in any way questioning their decision to close you down," Wells said. "But my understanding is you have [six] pregnant sows. ... What I asked [Town Manager] Peter [Fohlin] was to give you eight weeks after the last sow farrows."
 
LaValley-Hurley said she has tried to find a home for the expectant sows.
 
"We can't find anyone who is willing to take on a bred sow," she said. "The risk is she's going to abort or she will become ill in transport. Pigs are not especially hardy, especially when they're pregnant."
 
The commission unanimously voted to have Wells draft a letter to the Board of Health on its behalf requesting an extension to the order, and Phelps recommended that the farmers communicate with the board and demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with the order as quickly as possible.
 
In other business on Tuesday, the Ag Commission unveiled its new Williamstown Farm Map and Brochure. Phelps credited Lindsay Neathawk of Neathawk Signs and Design for helping to develop the pamphlet, which gives information for many of the farms in town and specifies which ones are open to the public.
 
The commission discussed ideas for distributing the brochure around town.
 
 
Corrections: Jennifer LaValley-Hurley's last name was repeated incorrectly in the story; Peter LaValley did not attend the meeting. In her quote, LaValley-Hurley also meant "hardy," not "hearty."
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